The Confederate flag has a very long and controversial history, to be sure. But a recent CBS report on a flag dustup in a school in Missouri shows just how slipshod journalism is today.

So, as the story goes, some kids at a Kansas City suburban high school have been playing with the Confederate battle flag lately and despite that there is no real news in the incident, the story made the news. Naturally the agenda journalists at CBS radio, KMOX, St. Louis tried their hardest to make it a story about “RAAAAAAAACISM!” despite that there doesn’t seem to be any proof at all that race is really a part of the story.

The report quotes a girl who noted that “some boy” was wearing a 3X5 sized C.S. flag as a cape and parading around “as if he was Superman or something.”

The assistant principal, as kill-joy officials are wont to do, took the flag away from the kid for whatever reason… not that school officials ever think they need a reason to take things away from kids, of course.

Then, according to the girl interviewed by CBS, the kid yelled an expletive–as teen boys are wont to do–and taunted the buttinski principal by informing him that he had a CS flag on his hat, too, so there.

CBS also notes that the flag had been floating around the school here and there lately, and a photo of the flag (the same flag that was confiscated, not a different one) was taken draped over a school balcony. The photo had been making the rounds, apparently.

And that is the whole story. Some punkish boy thought it would be cool to have a “rebel” flag to show that he is rebelling against the man at school.

Ah, but here is CBS to make it about “RAAAAAAAACISM!”

Here is how CBS ginned up the incident to “outrage.”

The flag-waving students say they are celebrating their family history with these displays.

But many students fear it’s being misused as a symbol promoting racism.

It’s a symbol with more than 150 years of history, much of which is controversial.

So, does CBS have any examples of racial problems at the school? Have there been any gang troubles? Any fights between the races at the school? Any problems with outside groups, like maybe the KKK, gaining influence in the school? Has even one kid been disciplined for racist taunts to other kids?

Well, if there is CBS didn’t bother to try and find any. No, instead CBS gave its audience this…

“The meaning of the flag isn’t about being a rebel anymore it’s more towards racism now,” Paige, a junior, told KSHB.

“They said that it doesn’t represent racism to them but you know the controversy over the flag. It’s okay for you to put it on your truck or whatever, but keep it at home for you to show it and bring it to school is inappropriate,” said another student to KSHB.

So, CBS relies on some kids who self-righteously think that their opinion is both important and correct–you know, despite that whole “freedom” thingie we are supposed to enjoy in the USA.

Instead of having any actual proof that the flag represented some sort of serious racial strife in the school, CBS decided to get two halfwit girls and present their opinions as some sort of factual evidence that there was a problem at the school.

Finally, notice the headline of CBS’ story: “Confederate Flag as School Causes Outrage.”

Did you see OUTRAGEOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE in this KMOX story? Or did you see two self-righteous girls who think they know better than everyone else expressing a prosaic opinion?

This is called agenda journalism. KMOX wanted this to be about “RAAAAAAAACISM!” so they manufactured a story to further that claim quite despite any actual proof of same.

*WARNING*WARNING*WARNING*WARNING*

This post has been edited to properly spell CBS in the first paragraph. Because even though CBS was spelled properly a dozen other times in the post and it was obvious it was just a typo, idiots like SteveCrankmore think one misspelling invalidates the whole post. So, gosh darn it, we want to fix THAT little mishap, eh?

For a guy who so recently was OUTRAGEOUSLY OUTRAGED that Jay-Z wore a symbol from a nutty black power group, you sure are in a snit about this.

What, doesn’t the killjoy principal have a wife you could call a “harlot”?

warnertoddhuston

He’s probably gay. He IS in “education” after all.

Commander_Chico

Yeah, Warner, what about that?

http://www.wizbangblog.com David Robertson

To plenty of people, the Confederate battle flag does symbolize racism.

warnertoddhuston

… and?

Brucehenry

Years ago I was a manager in a small chain of pizza restaurants. Another store had a manager I’ll call “Bob” who enjoyed those “re-enactments” of Civil War battles.

One Saturday “Bob” had a staff meeting scheduled for 8am, but had to be in VA for a re-enactment at noon. To save time, he showed up to conduct the meeting in full Confederate uniform. The clueless fuck COULD NOT FATHOM why his black employees were offended. After all, “Bob” reasoned, didn’t they understand it was “heritage, not hate”?

It took a hell of a lot of schmoozing by our franchise owner to smooth out the hurt feelings, and the company was lucky it didn’t make the local news. To this day I still chuckle when I think about dumbass “Bob.”

His epic cluelessness reminds me of yours, Warner.

Would it be OK if these high school kids were “playing” with this flag, too?

Except that it’s an anecdote about the cluelessness of middle-aged white guys who just can’t figure out why some people don’t want Rebel flags, symbols of slavery and Jim Crow, flying in the public schools, or don’t want their boss to show up at work wearing a Confederate officer’s uniform like it’s no big deal.

“Huh? What? It’s about ‘my family history’, about ‘heritage,’ dontcha see? I’m no racist, I just like flying the flag of the country that was founded on slavery, and waved by the Klan during the civil rights movement! Why would you think that’s racist?”

Too clueless to be able to tell the difference between PC butthurt and actual, justifiable offense.

warnertoddhuston

I don’t like the Rolling Stones. Should I tell everyone they shouldn’t be allowed to listen to them?

Brucehenry

Completely two different things. But just to humor you, suppose “Brown Sugar,” a song that contains lyrics many consider offensive to black women, had been played at a school assembly.

If a TV station reported that “some were outraged” about it, they’d probably be correct.

As far as I can tell, no one is saying these kids can’t fap to the Rebel flag all they want off school grounds. But racist symbols have no place in school. If I were a parent of a kid in that school, I’d want the school to tell these little angels to keep their slavery-porn at home, too. I wouldn’t want swastikas or hammers-and-sickles flying on campus, either.

jim_m

The civil war is our history. Reenactment helps us understand and educate people about that history. That would per force require that someone play that part of the Confederacy.

Blacks can demand that we stop teaching about the civil war if that is what they really want. That’s fine. Let’s forget all about it. Now will they STFU about reparations?

Brucehenry

Nobody AFAIK objects to a bunch of grown men play-acting battles in costume if that’s what they want to do. What the employees I mentioned above were objecting to was their boss showing up in Confederate uniform to conduct a meeting about pizza policy lol. Kind of like Jewish employees might object if their boss showed up to a store meeting dressed as an SS officer on his way to a re-enactment of a WW2 battle (they have those, too, right?).

SteveCrickmore075

Huston: But a recent CBC report on a flag dustup in a school in Missouri shows just how slipshod journalism is today. Your statement about a ‘CBC ‘ report proves your point.

Yep. Funny how lefties always fail to mention that intolerant bigots like Fred Phelps and this guy always seem to be democrats.

http://wizbangblog.com/author/rodney-graves/ Rodney G. Graves

Scratch a racist bigot and a democrat yelps…

SteveCrickmore075

He ran for every nomination he could for the free publicity. He noted that “stations are required to run advertising for candidates” and that he would declare a candidacy and then start running ads. He said, ‘Federal elections offer public speaking opportunities we can’t afford to pass up, and come only once every 2 years.

He ran for the North Carolina Democrat governship primary in 1984 and got less than 1 percent (0.6) of the vote.

He also ran for the Senate of North Carolina as a Republican, in 1986. The guy was a complete head case, but still managed to get 3% of the vote! North Carolina Republican primary election, U.S. Senate, May 6, 1986. Republican James T. Broyhill 139,570 votes 66.52% Republican David Funderburk 63,593 votes 30.31% Republican Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. 6,662 votes 3.17%

http://ak4mc.us/cms/ McGehee

His favorite journalist is left-wing anti-Semite Max Blumenthal.

Commander_Chico

Not likely, since Miller would kill Blumenthal, too. Blumenthal is an American Jew critical of Israeli policies.

“Because I have J-positive blood, I usually get a number one or two, and I’m quickly waved through. And my passport has a special little pen mark that says I’m eligible for return. In other words, I can return to this place that I was supposedly in three or 4,000 years ago when I was chilling with Methuselah, Shim, Ham and Japath, drinking St. Ides on the corner with Aaron and Moses.” It’s absurd that Blumenthal a Jew would be called “an anti-semite”, not in Israel but on wizbang…http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/19454-max-blumenthal-qa